Sunday April 13, 2008

Mukhriz raps Karpal over ‘joker’ remark

By SIRA HABIBU

ALOR STAR: Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir hit back at DAP chairman Karpal Singh yesterday for calling his father Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a joker.

He said Karpal Singh was resorting to personal attacks against Dr Mahathir because the former premier was still influential in the political arena even after retirement.

“This 'joker' served as the Prime Minister for 22 years, and led the Barisan Nasional to two-thirds majority victory in five general elections,” said Mukhriz.

He said this in response to Karpal Singh’s statement that the country had a joker for a Prime Minister until Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over in 2003.

Mukhriz said even DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh himself were defeated in 1999 general elections during Dr Mahathir’s era, adding that the former premier had successfully kept the Opposition in check during his reign.

Mukhriz said this after opening a pipe-laying project at Kampung Pida 1 Megat Dewa in Jerlun to check frequent flash floods in the low-lying area.

“Karpal’s call to Dr Mahathir to stop criticising Abdullah is very revealing indeed,” he said, agreeing with Dr Mahathir’s conspiracy theory that the Opposition were ‘protective’ of Abdullah as they wanted to capitalise on his apparent weakness in the next general election.

In Shah Alam, Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz urged the movement’s members not to wholly focus on party elections in December, WANI MUTHIAH reports.

“Don’t talk about the party election. If the focus is on that for the rest of this year, its will be sheer waste of time,” Rafidah told a press conference yesterday.

“Don’t make the elections an additional problem for the party,” said Rafidah who was on the first leg of her nationwide visit with the women wing’s exco members.

She said the party’s poor performance in states such as Selangor should not be allowed to create problems among party members.